Monday, October 13, 2008

Chris"thief"er Come-Bust-Us Day

Every year on this day, I wonder why in the world there is a holiday to celebrate Columbus and his exploits. He didn't do anything. Well, it can be argued that he did open up the West to European colonization. European colonization, in my estimation, is hardly cause for celebration. Look at all the suffering the European colonist/settler has left in his wake--near elimination of whole groups of people either by disease or the gun. And the laying of the foundation for the trans-Atlantic slave trade (the holocaust of African people).

You know, it is the gross lies and misinformation that children get in school that is one of the underlying motivating factors for why I would love to homeschool. These lies get glossed over and taught as fact and no one, it seems, is interested in questioning the accepted treatment of important/influential individuals in history textbooks. I, for one, did not learn about the "radical" Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey until I was in college and the information I did learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. never once talked about his more radical turn towards the end of his life. Steve Biko? Kwame Nkrumah? Other Pan-Africanists? No, I never learned about these folks. My history lessons, unfortunately, were always overwhelmingly Eurocentric. Columbus, my friends, sailed the ocean blue in 1492 "discovering" a land that was already inhabited and "proving" that the world was round even though many people already knew that. And for that, we drop everything to celebrate him.

As long as Malcolm X is not celebrated, as long as Ida B. Wells is not celebrated, Booker T. Washington, and the list goes on--as long as these key and influential figures in American history are not celebrated, Columbus Day is something all people of color should actively decry, in my opinion.

Every year on this day, I make sure to play Columbus by Burning Spear. I an' I all I know I an' I all I say I an' I reconsider I an' I see upfully that:

He say 'im that he's the first one Who discover Jamaica, I an' I say that: What about the Awarak indians ? And the few black man who were down here before him ? The indians could'n hang on a long long Here comes black man an'oman an' children A ina Jam Dung run ya Whole heap a mix up, mix up Whole heap a ben up, ben up Ha fi straighten out

What a long stay from home I an' I longing to go home Within a red, green an' gold robe Come on, twelve tribe of Israel Come on, twelve tribe of Israel A outa Jam Dung land ya A whole heap a mix up, mix up A whole heap a ben up, ben up Come on, twelve tribe of Israel Come on, twelve tribe of Israel A outa Jam Dung land ya, yes Jah

My Library

True prosperity is never an amount of money; it is a state of mind. -Louise Hay

Those who mind, don't matter. And those who matter don't mind.-Dr. Suess

Life can unfold un-limitedly as long as we have a heart of appreciation and an undefeated mind. Based on the Buddhist perspective of the eternity of life, we volunteered to be born in our current life-condition and chose to encounter the problems we have. If you can take this perspective, you should be able to overcome any difficulty with joy.-Daisaku Ikeda, Wisdom for Modern Life